The Compliance Function assists the Management in verifying that the Bank and its subsidiaries meet relevant regulatory requirements in protecting and enhancing its reputation with its stakeholders to minimize and avoid financial losses.

It ensures proper implementation of the Directives issued by the Central Bank of Lebanon, (BDL), in fighting money laundering and countering terrorist financing by following the highest standards and best practices in implementing the proper due diligence on customers’ accounts and transactions and verifying compliance with relevant laws and regulations. The Compliance Function has succeeded in opening communication channels with the branches, front liners, monitoring units, and the Legal Management Division in Bankmed and other subsidiaries in the Group on one hand, and with the correspondent banks (in coordination with the Financial Institutions Division) and the Special Investigation Commission (SIC) on the other hand in order to ensure proper understanding and full abidance with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Terrorism Financing (CTF) regulations.

The Function also verifies compliance with all relevant laws and regulations and assists the Senior Management in identifying compliance risks. The Function reports deviations to the Board Audit Committee and Senior Management.

The Compliance Function is independent from any business and other control activities of the Bank.

Furthermore, the Compliance program is subject to regular independent reviews by the Bank’s Internal Auditors, External Auditors, and SIC who assess the efficiency of the program and assess the Bank’s compliance with the AML directives.

The staff of Compliance collectively have a thorough understanding of banking and financial laws and regulations and are requested to become AML certified through the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (CAMS) certification.